


Sleep Talking

by RobinPlaysTrumpet15



Series: Stranger Things One Shots/Shorts [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Accidental Coming Out, Coming Out, M/M, Sleep, Sleep talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 15:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18252539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinPlaysTrumpet15/pseuds/RobinPlaysTrumpet15
Summary: Last Will checked, he didn't talk in his sleep. Mike would know otherwise.This is actually chapter seven of my ST Shorts - March 2019 compilation. It was meant to be a short, but two hours and nearly two thousand words later, it's a whole darn fic on its own. So here it is.





	Sleep Talking

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is chapter seven of a different fic. Please don't tell me about it or report this story or anything. Thanks!

Will slept late into the morning. Of course, this was to be expected after a very late night with the Party. They hadn’t had a sleepover in god knows how long, and since they were at the Byers house, El and Max got to stay too.

They’d ended up sprawled all over Will’s bedroom. He’d given his bed up to Eleven and Max, both of whom tried a few times to protest but in the end fell asleep all tangled up together. Will thought it was funny, if a little irritating. Girls could do that without any consequences and no one batted an eye, but if Will wanted that with a boy then people act like the fucking world is ending.

So Will settled with his cozy little setup of his green and gray sleeping bag on the floor in the corner by the wall. Conveniently right next to Mike who was walling him in all night in his own blue and yellow sleeping bag. They probably laid a bit too close together for society’s standards, but, honestly, who in the Party cared much to notice anymore? It was still Christmas break at Hawkins Middle and it was cold outside. Just over two months ago, they’d all gone through a second version of the same hell from last year. So Mike closing Will in and effectively making him feel safe enough to sleep normally?

Well, it’s like they say. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

So by the time Will was cracking his eyes open the next morning, he was the last one awake. El and Max were gone from his bed and Dustin’s and Lucas’ sleeping bags were sitting empty and mussed on the floor. Mike was still right next to him, but he definitely wasn’t sleeping, lying on his back and tracing patterns on the ceiling with his eyes.

“Morning,” Will greeted, his voice squeaking just a tiny bit as he shifted and stretched his arms.

Mike’s head turned, his eyes falling to land on Will with a fond little smile.

“Thought you’d never wake up, Sleeping Beauty. Even the girls weren’t out this long.”

Teasing. God, it was too damn early for teasing.

“It’s too early for your shit, Wheeler,” Will accused.

“It’s after ten.”

He chuckled, the action acknowledging his claim’s lack of legitimacy. “Whatever.”

Mike chuckled back at him, stretching briefly before falling back to look at the ceiling again.

They laid in silence for a moment or two, Will unwilling to leave the warmth of his sleeping bag and Mike seemingly content right where he was.

“Hey,” Mike said softy, breaking the quiet of the room around them.

Will looked over at him.

“Do you want to go out to Castle Byers today?”

Will thought about it for a second, before shrugging and nodding his head in agreement. Why not? There wasn’t snow on the ground so he could be sure that they weren’t going to get in there and find every available surface meant for sitting covered in the stuff. Or, at least he figured that was the case. It hadn’t snowed yet and he hadn’t heard of any snow coming. His mother would have mentioned it if there was.

“Sure.”

*

The Party was staying over another night. And Will was happy about that. Not that he thought it was fun at all, but it felt surreal thinking about everyone (adults and teen siblings included) being in one house for any extended period of time. And he always seemed to be the one not present or conscious for it, and it always left him feeling a little detached. So the times in which they all decided that his house would be their crash pad for the afternoon or the weekend, he liked the feeling of the small house filled with the people he cared about most.

Of course, he wouldn’t dare speak any of that aloud to anyone.

But they wanted to run around in the woods for the afternoon. At least until they all got cold or they lost light. Winter was stupid that way, the dark of evening coming way too early, leaving the world looking like night time by 5 o’clock.

Tromping through the dry, dead leaves turned into a game of tag that turned into hide and seek, which turned into “pretend to attempt to build a bigger fort because Castle Byers was too small for all of them and no one wanted to ask Will to mess with it”. Which he appreciated. Castle Byers was fine the way it was. He had no problem with a second fort that they could call… The Dungeon or even Party Dungeon or something stupid like that. It could be cool.

But that quickly fell apart since they didn’t have the same materials as Castle Byers and Jonathan wasn’t there to direct them in any semblance of order. So then it turned into hide and seek again.

Will turned down playing with them. He’d played enough hide and seek in his life in these woods, alternate dimension or not. Everyone had offered to play something else, but Will had brushed it off. Said he’d sit at the fort and watched. That he liked to watch them play the game. It was fun.

They let it go, only a bit reluctantly, and headed off a little ways to play. Mike played a round or two before coming to join Will inside Castle Byers.

He hunched over slightly at the doorway, asking for entrance. Will asked for the password, and when given the correct one, allowed his friend in to join him on the old blanket covered pallet.

“Tired of playing?” Will inquired.

Mike shrugged, watching the sheet curtain door slip and flutter closed over the opening. He must have knocked it on his way inside.

“Just bored of running around in the woods, I suppose.”

Will scrunched a teasing smile at him a little curiously. “We’ve only been out here for like an hour and a half.”

Mike donned a mock affronted look. “And?” he asked incredulously. “This coming from the same boy who called 10:27 ‘too early’.”

Will shoved him and laughed. “Whatever!”

It turned into a soft shoving match until one of them got a good shot in on the other and nearly sent them toppling into a wall of the fort. Which would bring the whole structure down, and that was not ideal. So they gave it a rest, puffing out chuckles of laughter every few seconds but otherwise settling in close together in the cold winter air.

Will noticed some old paperback book that he’d forgotten to take back inside when the weather turned cool. He couldn’t remember bringing it out here or even the last time he’d read it. So he reached over and picked it up, sitting back and resting his shoulder against Mike’s arm. The book opened a little stiffly, and it was possible that a few of the pages were stuck together. But Will started reading it anyway.

Mike broke him out of his book-induced fantasy world several minutes later.

“You know…”

Will hummed to show he was listening.

“I heard you talking in your sleep.”

He felt his eyebrows knit together. He didn’t know he talked in his sleep. As far as Will knew, he’d never been known to do that. And he’d had enough sleepovers with Dustin and Lucas to know whether he talked in his sleep or not. They would have teased him relentlessly for it.

Will looked back up from his book, closing it with little interest of returning to it. Mike wasn’t looking at him, just watching the sheet sway gently in the cold breeze.

“I sleep talk?” Will prompted him.

He got a nod. “Yeah… You’ve been doing it for about a year now.”

“I have?!” he exclaimed, shooting up away from Mike to get a better look at him.

Mike just nodded again.

“What do I say?”

That got him a non committal shake of the head. “Mostly just a bunch of gibberish. You aren’t loud enough for us to make anything out most of the time. There was one time you talked about a goose, and then another you actually seemed to be talking to Frodo.”

And… honestly, what the hell are you supposed to say to that?

Except-

“And you expect me to believe that Lucas and Dustin wouldn’t have ripped on me for that constantly because…?”

“I made them promise not to,” Mike sighed.

“Why?”

“Because… Because one night, you talked about me.”

Mike’s eyes were shifting all over the place, finding nothing to focus on. But not once did they land on Will.

Will could feel his heart starting to beat harder, racing in his chest. It felt like it was crawling up his throat. No… no, this couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. Will knew what could happen to him if any of his thoughts or secrets were heard by anyone. Let alone one of the main subjects of those thoughts! Will would… he would… he’d be out of a good group of friends at least, that was for sure. At worst he’d be out of a home and… No, he’d be out of a life at worst.

God no… Mike had to be messing with him. Except that Mike wasn’t that cruel.

He shook his head hard, moving off the pallet and trying to back away. “No… no, no I didn’t. Whatever you heard… it was a mistake. Some stupid sleep talk. I don’t have any control over that! It’s just-”

“Will!” Mike reached out for him, his hands closing on Will’s forearms firmly. His grip wasn’t painful. Not like Will imagined it would be in this situation. “Will, calm down! Hang on a second, just… just wait.”

“Mike. I’m sorry. Just… just let go and… and-”

“It’s okay!” Mike said over him. As soon as the words came out, loud but not harsh, he looked around quickly. As if he would suddenly find them surrounded by prying eyes.

And, hell, they might.

Mike lowered his voice, his eyes turning to Will and finally making contact with him. “It’s okay. I- I wanted to tell you.”

Will had to make a conscious effort to unclench his jaw to say something. “Tell me what?”

“That… I know, and- and I get it. I understand.”

He felt himself go completely still. Did… did Mike really mean that?

“You-?”

“I’m not… not completely sure yet, but… But I… I know that I-”

“Mike…”

“I care about you. A lot…”

Will wasn’t sure what to say. His pulse was jumping again, his heart in his throat, but now he was sure he didn’t want to run. He was more inclined to get up and scream before jumping around like a fucking girl and-

Okay, that was kinda mean to girls, and that’s not what he meant. But still. He wanted to do that.

But he still didn’t know what to say.

“Will?” Mike’s tone took on a new quality. Something small and pleading and- god, Mike was scared. “Say something?”

“I… I care about you too…” Will whispered, hushed and aware that he was only separated from the outside word by tarps and a sheet. “A lot.”

The grin that split Mike’s face was totally worth it. Worth absolutely everything.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you thought!


End file.
